Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 40729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 204(@200wpm)___ 163(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 204(@200wpm)___ 163(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
“Three, two, one—”
My words are cut off by a loud magnastrike that assaults the earth nearby. A buzzing can be felt as it ripples magnetic energy through every particle in the near vicinity. The lights that were coming from the facility blink out and the thermablaster makes a hissing sound.
This has to work.
The thermablaster hums louder and louder as blue crackles of electricity come from the charged air, seemingly linking itself to the thermablaster. The zuta-metal glows bright blue.
“Don’t let go of the straps,” I warn Breccan and Jareth just as I step away.
KA-BOOM!
We’re all thrown back, landing hard on the earth. I’m dazed from the impact. My ears are ringing from the blast.
“Is everyone okay?” Breccan barks out.
I climb to my feet and skim my gaze over the other morts who are also standing back up. Sayer has his scapescanner pointed toward the pack of sabrevipes.
“Did we get them?” Jareth asks.
Sayer nods. “Yeah. The mountain too.”
Breccan rushes over to Sayer and inspects the device. “The mountain? Where is it?”
Sayer laughs. “Ask Oz.”
“If my calculations are correct, the power absorbed from the therma—” I start, but Jareth cuts me off, slapping my shoulder.
“You obliterated the entire rekking mountain! It worked, Oz! It rekking worked! We’ll blow those Kevins right out of the sky!”
“Now isn’t the time for celebration,” Breccan grinds out. “This geostorm is out of control. We need to drag the thermablaster back inside where it’s safe. Let’s go.”
Fighting against the wind, we take turns helping to drag the thermablaster back to the facility. When we reach the door and Sayer punches in the code, nothing happens.
“We’ve lost power,” Sayer states.
“How do we get back in?” Galen grunts. “Knock and wait until someone rekking answers?”
“We’ll have to go in through the cave entrance,” Breccan grumbles. “Be watchful for armworms. They like to hide in there during geostorms.”
It’s dreadful hauling the thermablaster up the side of the mountain to the cave entrance, and it takes rekking forever, but we manage. Once inside, and no longer assaulted by the elements, we wind our way through the tunnels following Breccan’s lead. We don’t encounter any armworms, which is good because we’re all spent of our energy. No one can be bothered to carry on conversation. Just morts grunting and complaining under their breath.
We descend deep into the mountain, traveling through a series of doors that aren’t computerized, our handlanterns lighting the way. When we reach the one that leads into one of the unused levels of the facility, we’re forced to use a zonnoblaster to blow off the lock.
“Get ahead of us and seal off this area. We’ll decontaminate and then go up,” Breccan tells Sayer and Galen. “We’ll stay back and secure the weapon and repair the door.”
It takes far too long because we must be thorough in our efforts to keep the facility free of contagions, but eventually we’ve essentially created a makeshift Decontamination Bay. Sayer pulls out some canisters of spray and begins the rigorous process of cleansing us one by one. We take several readings of the R-levels and when we’re satisfied we’re clear, we leave the weapon and enter the facility through another door.
“What is this place?” I ask, looking around the unfamiliar room, my handlantern light bouncing off the objects. Supplies line the shelves, all neatly contained in bins. If I wasn’t so eager to get back to Quinn, I’d dig around to see what sort of items I could find.
“Reserves,” Breccan states. “For emergencies.”
“That time we almost starved wasn’t an emergency?” Galen demands, picking up a huge glass jar of something long and green in a murky liquid.
“We managed,” Breccan bites back. “We always manage. These supplies are for when we can’t manage.”
I’m curious about this hidden supply. Galen, however, is losing his cool by the second, digging around in bins and beginning to rage.
“We could have used these seedlings!” he roars, tossing a handful of packets at Breccan. “You let us scrape when we could have had all this.”
“Enough,” Breccan snipes. “I wouldn’t have let anyone starve, but if you had known all this was here, you might have consumed it. We needed the reserves in the event the beasts stopped roaming or plants stopped growing. I won’t answer to any more accusations, Galen. Remember your place.”
Galen storms off.
“Any more questions?” Breccan asks, eyeing the rest of us.
“I think the females would like to visit the reserves room,” I tell him. “Perhaps they might need something for the mortlings.”
Breccan frowns. “Aria will rekking kill me.”
At this, Jareth snorts. “Our fearless commander is shaking in his boots because his mate might get angry for him keeping the best secret ever?”
“Be nice,” Sayer says, nudging Jareth. “If Grace discovered we were hiding all this from her, how do you think she’d react?”
Jareth’s grin is wicked. “She’d yell and throw things until we subdued her by both of us stuffing her with our cocks.”